Levine Acts to Protect the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) today introduced urgency legislation that would help protect the people of the San Fernando Valley by requiring that the owner and operator of for-profit acute care hospitals – such as the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center (ETRMC) in the San Fernando Valley – to maintain the high level of care that the surrounding community deserves.

Almost four years ago, Tenet Healthcare Corporation (Tenet) announced plans to divest 27 hospitals, including ETRMC. To date, the Encino and Tarzana campuses are the only hospitals from the group that have not sold. Tenet and Health Care Property Investors Inc., the real estate investment trust that owns ETRMC’s ground lease, each claim the other is at fault for delaying the facility’s sale. 

Meanwhile, ETRMC physicians, staff and the entire San Fernando Valley community are suffering the consequences due to reduced budgets and over-burdened staff.

The hospital currently provides jobs to 1,700 employees, of which more than 1,400 are full-time equivalent employees. In 2006, ETRMC had approximately 41,000 emergency room visits, with 8,300 of those requiring admissions. They treated 15,700 inpatient admissions and more than 112,000 outpatient visits, while performing more than 10,500 surgeries for its patients and the community’s residents.

“Doctors, staff and, most importantly, patients in our community should not become pawns in a power struggle between two giant publicly held for-profit businesses,” Assemblymember Levine said. “Both corporations need to re-energize negotiations to ensure the hospital’s timely sale to a qualified buyer and the continuation of top quality medical care to the community. The legislation I introduced today will ensure that doctors and staff will continue to have the resources they need to provide excellent care to their patients.”

Assembly Bill 2715 would require the owner and operator of a for-profit general acute care hospital to maintain and operate the hospital to provide their patients with a level of care that meets or exceeds the previous year’s standards, as determined by the State Department of Public Health. The measure also prohibits the owner or operator from decreasing the hospital’s budget by more than 10 percent from the previous year without approval from the State Department of Public Health based on a finding that the decrease would not adversely impact the hospital’s services or level of care.

“In the past seven years, three hospitals in the San Fernando Valley have closed their doors, and more and more are financially unstable,” Assemblymember Levine said. “The Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center is an integral part of the San Fernando Valley’s health care delivery system with its award-winning medical care.  It is my hope that we can move Assembly Bill 2715 along expeditiously so we can provide the stability needed to ensure hospitals have the expertise to address our community’s diverse health care needs.”

Assembly Bill 2715 is co-authored by Senators Mark Ridley-Thomas and Alex Padilla, as well as Assemblymembers Julia Brownley and Felipe Fuentes.